


Shoveling Coal

by randi2204



Series: Steampunk!Seven [1]
Category: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-21
Updated: 2012-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-31 13:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/344707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randi2204/pseuds/randi2204
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Someone</i> has to keep an eye on Josiah to make sure he doesn't blow up the church...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shoveling Coal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Todesengel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Todesengel/gifts).



> Disclaimer: They really belong to MGM, Mirisch and Trilogy, not me.

There were times JD didn’t much like being Josiah’s assistant.  But Nathan insisted that _someone_ had to be there in case he tried to blow up the church like he did his laboratory that time.

 

“Like anyone can stop him when he gets t’ thinkin’ about… things,” Vin had said, and walked away.  Chris had just shaken his head and Buck had found somewhere else he desperately needed to be.

 

 _Prob’ly Miss Georgia’s bed,_ JD thought with no small touch of resentment.

 

That had left just him and Ezra, and of course no one could make Ezra do something like this except Chris, and Chris wasn’t about to even try.  Not based on the _look_ that Ezra shot him.

 

So it was left to him to make his way every day into the maze of pipes and steam-jets that the church had become, just to make sure the preacher-man was still alive and not playing with dynamite again.  JD had come upon him more than once hiding things behind the altar and trying to look like it wasn’t nothing.

 

He succeeded in that about as well as Ezra did.

 

The church rattled day and night, but the town was a fair bit brighter in the evenings, JD had to admit that.  Whatever it was in the bell jar that made the sparks, it lit up the whole town.

 

Most of the time, Josiah had the steam turned low, but when he was working on something and concentrating real hard, sometimes he forgot.

 

Just like he forgot to fill the furnace with coal to make the steam.

 

“JD!” Josiah’s bellow carried easy over the clanking of gears and the hiss of steam. He was wearing his goggles, which meant he was probably tinkering with something dangerous.  “The furnace needs stokin’, son!”

 

JD swiped one dirty hand across his forehead, smearing coal-dust through the sweat before bending to shovel more coal into the fire.

 

Hopefully this time, whatever it was he was fiddling with wouldn’t be quite as explosive as the dynamite distance launcher he’d used to blow up his lab.  JD didn’t relish trying to explain to the others why he let Josiah blow up the church as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: For [Todesengel](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Todesengel/pseuds/Todesengel)'s request for _Steampunk!Seven, Josiah as a mad scientist_. She was kind enough to say that I did pretty well with it for never having heard of steampunk before this.


End file.
